Tennis belongs to the individualistic past - a hero, or at most a pair of
friends or lovers, against the world. I have always considered tennis as a combat in an arena between two
gladiators who have their racquets and their courage as their weapons. Love is nothing in tennis, but in life it's everything. Tennis is an addiction that once it has truly hooked a man will not let him
go. Ladies, here's a hint. If you're up against a girl with big boobs, bring her
to the net and make her hit backhand volleys. That's the hardest shot for the
well-endowed. Good shot, bad luck, and hell are the five basic words to be used in a game
of tennis, though these, of course, can be slightly amplified. When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his 40s shouldn't play
tennis. I heeded his advice carefully and could hardly wait until I reached 50
to start again. An otherwise happily married couple may turn a mixed doubles game into a
scene from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The serve was invented so that the net could play. Though your game is hardly the best Why has slamming a ball with a racquet become so obsessive a pleasure for so
many of us? It seems clear to me that a primary attraction of the sport is the
opportunity it gives to release aggression physically without being arrested for
felonious assault. But that won't give me a free hand to hold the beer. The primary conception of tennis is to get the ball over the net and at the
same time to keep it within bounds of the court; failing this, within the
borders of the neighborhood. A perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of
total tranquility. A column of ants began to follow me onto the tennis court. Because I would
not step on them, I lost the match. But I won with God. Tennis begins with love. What a polite game tennis is. The chief word in it seems to be "sorry" and
admiration of each other's play crosses the net as frequently as the ball. Tennis is not a gentle game. Psychologically, it is vicious. That people are
only just beginning to come to terms with this fact illustrates just how big a
con trick has been perpetrated on the non-playing tennis public - and even a few
players, usually losing players - for decades. The cunning competitor plays on the other party's guilt. Continuously praise
your opponent's shots, and you'll notice how he begins to press. Self-beratement
also serves to balance a guilty conscience for being successful and makes your
opponent disturbed for upsetting you so. If on occasion you call one of your
opponent's "out" shots "in," then later on you can innocently call an "in" shot
"out" on a crucial play. Practice saying "Good try," sincerely; then you can
call a lot of close shots "out" and get away with it. Speed in tennis is a strange mixture of intuition, guesswork, footwork and
hair-trigger reflexes. Many of the players famed for quickness on court would
finish dead last in a field of schoolgirls in a race over any distance more than
ten yards. In tennis the addict moves about a hard rectangle and seeks to ambush a fuzzy
ball with a modified snow-shoe. It's difficult for most people to imagine the creative process in tennis.
Seemingly it's just an athletic matter of hitting the ball consistently well
within the boundaries of the court. That analysis is just as specious as
thinking that the difficulty in portraying King Lear on stage is learning all
the lines. It's one-on-one out there, man. There ain't no hiding. I can't pass the ball. "I would so like to be Lenny Kravitz." "I'm not a fan of it. I hate it, but I may as well utilize it. I think it
takes away from the integrity of tennis." "Sometimes, actually, I see myself a little bit in him sometimes, you know,
talking to his coach, you know, yelling a couple of negative words towards the
box, which it's good to see I'm not the only one." "You would have to refer to the LL Cool J song called "Round The Way Girl,"
and he explains it in full detail, the meaning of the earrings. These are
bamboo. He explains it in full detail. I'm a 'Round The Way Girl." "I would honestly rather lose to the same guy twice than lose to two
different guys. I think if I lost to two different players I would think I
wasn't playing well, but with one guy I can think 'OK, this guy is on a roll'.
It's just easier to digest." "For me it's something that doesn't quite fit into the schedule. It's going
to be real tough to go from Houston all the way over to Monte Carlo, then come
back just for a week or two to train for Rome. For the Americans, that
tournament has never been exactly the easiest one in the schedule. I'm not going
to be able to make it to that one." "I wore that to a sixth-grade dance." "My player box is going to be full of celebrities, too; my dad, this guy Jose
Hidalgo, his guest, my buddy from SC [University of Southern California]. That's
about it. I'll probably get an autograph from Tiger in between sets. I'll bring
a golf ball with me." "I might have had a little fun last night and then I woke up. I'd like to
thank Mr. Grey Goose. I won't do that again, but I thought I had zero shot of
getting in." "He hasn't even started to use a lot of his game." "This is probably my most dominant grand slam victory and it's already my
10th in such a short period of time. I amazed myself." "I saw Andy in the locker room, running around playing cards and he was
loose. If you don't get on Federer early, it's trouble because no one comes back
on him. Once he starts hitting those sweet shots, he took a little belief out of
Andy. I saw Andy's face and I said 'Oh s***.'" "Yeah, there's a lot of strategy talk. It's not so much like, If you're down
6-4, 6-0, 2-0. We didn't really talk about that. Oops." "I don't want to be like some of those celebrities walking around, just so
full of themselves. I always want to be down-to-earth, want to be a person like
when you meet them, they're the same person that you think of them in the
article or something." "That's what you do all the hard work for, to play in situations that put
your body through gruelling times. If you're not up to it, pull out." "It [playing Wimbledon] has crossed my mind -- I won't lie to you. Nothing
against Nadal who is a tremendous athlete, but that sort of [baseline] game, I'd
be licking my chops to come in [to net] and use that grass to your advantage." "I don't really know any other players extra well." "You can't expect yourself to be already peaking like crazy in an exhibition
tournament." "Amazingly, [Martina] Hingis went so far as to say, "Dinara [Safina] has an
amazing future, and will be even better than Marat [Safin]; Dinara has to work
harder and doesn't have as much touch, but she fights so hard." Oh sure, and
Radek Stepanek is going to be better than Ivan Lendl, too." "I listen to him most of the time, some of the time I switch off." "Venus and I would really like to thank the jury again because they really
were able to see the truth in this matter." "This trophy is one of the most beautiful we have in tennis -- The Golden
Falcon. I wanted it so bad. Andy was a very good opponent. He fought hard and
didn't miss many balls. But I was patient. I knew I had to be aggressive but not
too aggressive. Against someone like Andy you need to find the perfect balance,
because if you go to the net too much, he will pass you. And if you stay at the
baseline, he's too solid. So the combination was the key today." "I'm not sure it will help. I already tried it and it's really confusing. I'm
there thinking and worrying, 'Should I call my coach for help or not?' I need to
play a couple of tournaments like this." "As I was walking off the court, the models were waiting to go on for
Ferrero's match. It's a little disappointing. Maybe I'm concentrating better in
my matches than I would have later on. Tomorrow I think I'm playing on the
outside court, so I'm not going to have them again. I think if I win my next
one, there's a good chance that I'll be on the court with them." "He has a more complete game than Sampras. Sampras had a bigger first and
second serve. In the conditions Pete was playing, it was easier to be more
aggressive all the time. Now with the courts and the balls much slower, Roger is
so effective because he has so many attributes to his game." "No one is friends with Hewitt and he does not worry me at all." "Hewitt seems to think that he's come to Iraq. But we're not bothered because
this is the circus that he wanted to set up. Nothing's going to happen and we
shouldn't pay any attention to it." "He told me he got pelted with coins and the umpire had to stop the match at
one stage. We are expecting the worst and if that doesn't happen, well, that's a
bonus." "I just won a Grand Slam. The last thing I'm going to talk about is some
fingers or a banana, alright? I hope you got that one, thanks." "Better not say anything about that because if I do, I know I'm gonna get
slighted. I'm really disappointed there's not more English people in it
(laughter)." "I feel like I'm helping out Andy, because Andy has dealt with it on his own
for a while now. I'm proud to be helping him. I'm proud that we're doing this
together. We're both in the quarters now. He's playing great tennis again. I'm
really happy to see that. He played unbelievable in Cincinnati. I thought he
played great in Indianapolis.And I had to play possibly my best match ever to
beat him in the finals. I'm happy to see him doing great. We're both playing
pretty darn well going into Moscow. I'm looking forward to us teaming up
together instead of playing against each other." "Those are real hard fans. There are a lot of them here. Some are a little
bit crazy with their drinking their beers every once in a while. But I love it." "If you read it, you must have been one of the 10 books he sold." "No, you know. Not at all. I don't think so. Some days." "The players strongly support the move away from best-of-five-set finals." "It's weird, because there are a couple of sides of me. There's the Maria
that's a tennis player. There's the Maria that is a normal girl. And there's the
Maria who's a businesswoman. And that's where the 'Maria Sharapova brand' comes
into play. I've been lucky to be associated with amazing companies that have
given me experience about all that." "Justine (Henin-Hardenne) and Amelie (Mauresmo) are kind, they're smart, but
they're also shy and not wildly outgoing. But when Venus Williams and Irina
Spirlea bump each other, fans like that drama and they like that tension." "The players aren't supporting the tour. (Amelie) Mauresmo has blown off the
entire hardcourt season. Then there are injuries and phony injuries -- (Kim)
Clijsters is out for two months...They don't think about growing the game; they
think about growing their bank account. There's been a recession for years, but
the players don't feel it. They're making more. You can't convince them that
tennis is in trouble. They can't feel it; their agents can't feel it. They're
living in an entirely different reality." "No, I'm not (disappointed). There's no reason to be because I'm on an
incredible run. You always expect a loss once in a while. So when it happens,
why be disappointed if I win over 90% of my matches." "I love reading your website. And I don't even like to read!" "I think this is the biggest advantage of these two guys. When they go on the
court, the opponents are down one set because they are fearful of them. (The
other players) think that they are gods." "I hope guys don't go into it already beaten. That happened when Pete was
around. Guys definitely in the locker room felt like, a match against Pete
Sampras, it was time to book your flight for the next day." "The good thing about him is that he doesn't do anything special but he wins
most of his matches easily. That means that he's good. "I can't say I don't like acting, but I can't imagine a career when I have to
spend 70 percent of my time in a trailer eating Snickers bars." "It's like a book. It's the first chapter. You don't know what's in the
middle and you don't know what's in the end. That's what the coolest thing is.
Andy has an opportunity to make an incredible book." "The Argentineans practice on the court for two hours a day, then they must
practice in front of a mirror for two more hour saying 'I'm not guilty.'" "We have undoubtedly got the talent but maybe we have not had the right
attitude. We need to be more focused, more determined and more ruthless in what
we want to achieve. The confidence and belief levels in British tennis at the
moment are very low and we have got to raise them by surrounding ourselves with
proven winners and tough task-masters on and off the court." "They tried it on the ATP a while ago. Sometimes, when things aren't going
well in the sport, they search a little bit. I don't think it's a time to panic
in the men's or ladies field. It's their (the WTA Tour's) deal and if it adds a
little bit then great. One thing I love about tennis is it's an individual deal.
It's up to you out there and I've always thought that was pretty unique. The
only other sport to have that is boxing and it can really expose you as an
athlete and I like that. I like to figure it out on my own just as my opponent
has to figure it out on his own, so I'm not into coaching." "Throw him a bone?...I'm going to put the beat-down on him!" "He's one of the few players that has ever sent me a thank-you note. He
appreciates it, and that means a lot." "A great coach can lead you to a place where you don't need him any more."
"You know, I don't think anyone on the call really cares (laughter)...I'm
just kidding." "Keep in mind, we didn't come close to winning the baseball, basketball or
the hockey or the soccer. It's not tennis. We're not winning anything anymore.
This country's dominance in sports has died in everything." "The way I look at the top five, (Rod) Laver, (Roger) Federer, myself, Borg
and (Ivan) Lendl. I think those five guys dominated their generations better
than anyone. Maybe Roger will dominate better than any one of the other four.
Maybe I put Andre (Agassi) as kind of six through 10 with, you know, (John)
McEnroe and (Jimmy) Connors, kind of those guys. That's kind of how I see it." "Look. There's many former players, many experts, who think they know
everything. Sometimes they're right, but they can also be wrong. You can't
always listen to them, especially as a player. From a former top player --
almost a legend of the game -- to hear stuff like this is obviously very
disappointing. I thought I got along well with him; I probably still am, because
he never told these things to my face. Next time I see him, maybe I'll say
something. Or maybe he's not a man to be around for me. Because if you say stuff
like this? There's professional and there's friendship, but if you cross the
line too many times eventually you're going to lose your friends. That's maybe
what he's doing." "Oh, oh, first time happen in my match, so...I mean, if the crowd likes it,
that's okay with me." "I wouldn't change a thing." "The Chinese tennis federation is concentrating more on girls' tennis to
start with because it's easier. Men's tennis is very strong but there are not so
many good women players in the world." "Women are held to a different standard. When those blowouts come in the
early rounds, the critics come down on them. If we get a few more, the critics
will jump -- especially in this year when everyone is talking about equal prize
money. But that's not the point. We don't punch a clock; we don't get paid by
the game or set. When you have the same job, then anything less than equality is
just wrong." "It is very important not to think about losing." "Reminds me a bit of me sometimes." "I think it's in his mind. It's a little difficult to play Nadal because he's
a leftie, he's younger, he has less pressure than Roger. By the way he's
playing, I think he should beat him. I think it's more mental than any other
problem...He has no reason to get really down, he won seven Grand Slams. So, he
has nothing to be pissed off about." "The president of the French federation, Christian Bimes, is always saying he
wants a French winner at Roland Garros, but if that's the case they should
provide us with some clay courts. Look at Rafael Nadal. In Spain he's playing on
clay courts the whole year round. Most French players learn their game on hard
courts. I learned mine on wooden indoor courts. But not clay." "Grand Slams are funny things. You have to try to find a way to get through
the first week and put yourself in a position in the second week. A lot of
strange things happen." "The balls skid a lot more and stay low. It forces you to use a different
muscle group. Your ass -- can I say that on the Internet? -- gets really sore.
For the first few days, it's really, really tough." "Most kids growing up playing tennis want to win Grand Slam titles and be No.
1 in the world in singles. Truth be told, Mike and Bob's primary goal as
6-year-olds was to win all four Grand Slams as a doubles team, be No. 1 in the
world in doubles and help the U.S. team win the Davis Cup. Those have always
been their tennis dreams." "Pete and I played doubles, and we were down two sets to love, and I try to
rally Pete to get him going so something good could happen. And it did, and we
turned it around and ended up winning in five sets. Pete he may not admit this,
but he hugged me and he told me he loved me." "I'll serve your ass like John McEnroe, if the girl steps up I'm smackin' the
ho." "I'll probably be wearing something fun and sexy as usual, but I can't say it
will be the 'Catsuit.'" "He was right before me shouting out encouragements to himself, doing little
sprints and kangaroo jumps. It was borderline aggressive, but that kind of thing
just makes me laugh. He's just another guy and he can crumble like anyone else." "Rafa being 6-1 against Roger is not a source of pride for me. I'm happy that
Rafa won the tournament, but I would have liked that Federer could have won the
Grand Slam, because I think he's a phenomenal player. For me, he is the player I
enjoy watching the most." "I would actually put him up there with the best of all time, mainly because
he's so strong in his legs." "I'm not impressed with that streak. He was close to losing many times. If I
play my game, I know I can beat anyone. Why not Rafael Nadal? I definitely know
I have my chances. He keeps winning on clay but he can't win for ever." "I think they're hanging by their fingernails. I think if you told them they
had to stand on their heads and breathe through a straw, they'd do it -- if
that's the only way you're going to keep your job." "It was a very solid performance, I almost felt sorry for her." "She doesn't have a lot of patience for (clay), I don't know if she can be
Top 20." "Whatever I said last year, just copy it. I'm sure it still fits." "I've never been more happy than I am today. I have a great family, great
kids. I have practically everything, you know? Sometimes I have to pinch myself.
It's really true: Life starts at 50." "I am working on it but I don't thinking having a good serve is the most
important thing. It is about a lot of things coming together that makes you a
good player." "Another factor is the education and culture in which you grow up. I didn't
grow up in the culture of victory, where you are expected to be or have to be,
the best. It was not at all like that in my family. Tennis was really a hobby.
If it led to something, great. If not, there were other things in life. I think
that was something I was missing at some points in my career, because when I see
Hingis or the Williamses, you see how they were educated for this: to win, to be
the best, a bit the American mentality. Number one. Number one. Number one. I
didn't have this." "He seems like he's moving farther and farther back in the court for the most
part, which I don't think is a winning solution for him. You need binoculars to
see him sometimes." "It could get into my mind. I could start thinking, 'I can't play against
this guy, his game doesn't suit me'. I could start accepting the fact that I
have been losing against him, but that would be a bad thing for me to do." "He has never broken a racket in anger. It would be showing a lack of respect
to people who actually have to buy the equipment to play the sport." "A lot of people say I'm not very friendly, that I'm cold. But I'm just the
opposite. I live a very simple life. I'm a normal person, very sensitive, very
caring about those around me." "I think it's been far too comfortable and I think that's part of the problem
when you are a resource-rich governing body. It has surprised me the amount of
funding the LTA are spending on players who are 300, 400, 500 in the world and
are stuck there. I don't mind funding players who actually have a chance of
making it through to the Top 100. But we have to start really focusing on our
younger age groups, the 10, 11, 12-year-olds. They have to be the warriors and
competitors coming through. You can't teach a youngster to compete when they are
16, 17 and 18." "I thank everybody for the backing offered, especially my manager, my
physical trainer and my girlfriend. I'm happy with the decision and feeling
good. During this year, I've lived a lot of things. It's been very hard for me.
But I can finally say that we won the fight to clear my name. I feel clean and
with the same security I had on the first day. I've been training to be as well
as possible. It's a pleasure to say that I'll be playing in three months time." "I'm struggling with my tennis. Definitely I'm playing the worst tennis ever.
The opponent doesn't matter, I'm playing so bad. This will of course affect my
confidence. It's the worst situation getting to the French Open and playing like
this." "There is no desire on our part to say anything derogatory against the
leading women players -- they are fantastic athletes who add a huge amount to
Wimbledon. We could respond to the pressures and do something that would be
fundamentally unfair to the men, but we have not." "I think that always myself is my worst opponent. I always playing against
myself first and then to the other one. So I'm playing against two guys during
the match...It's like mentally I don't know what is gonna happen in the next ten
minutes. Maybe I get depressed in ten minutes. I don't know myself too
much...Yeah, I was working with a psychology, and I still." "He is like a beast, an animal, on the court. He's very strong and he's very
well prepared." "A lot of these young girls, they don't even know what the game is about.
They have never seen a drop shot, a slice and all the mixture and variety I
have." "I don't care if I win another match for the rest of the year, if we can hold
up that (Davis) Cup, I really don't care. That's probably the one time of the
year where you can say that and be that selfless and mean it." "I would love them to ask me what I would love to hear during warm up. But I
love this song which they had when they present me. I was so excited they put it
because they put it in the match before I guess when I played (Martina) Hingis.
It's something about, 'I'm so excited, I gonna like it,' or whatever. I was
pretty pumped. I love this song...I mean, I love the music. I hope one day we
can have like in basketball match the same thing on this music. I think this
will be great for crowd, for tennis and for everything." "Davis Cup is different. It's a different sport, almost." "Sure, in fact I'd like to. I would love to do it. I'd be very much into
doing that." "The art...is pretty much extinct. You have some guys that do a little bit of
it, but across the board, everyone stays back and just trades groundies. I miss
the contrast. I miss one guy coming in and the other guy defending. I think
that's the best tennis. But that's just a sign of the times. It's just the kind
of direction it was at Wimbledon the last couple years. The part of the court
that's worn out is the baseline, not the net. So, you know, if I'd be playing
today, I'd be licking my chops on grass." "Sorry." "Even Roger Federer never won Davis Cup, so it's really something special,
something that gives you confidence when you go out there and you look at the
other opponent and you feel like you have something more than the other guys
do." "A lot of people are going to be disappointed to see technology take over a
little bit in the sport. But we're in 2006. For me, it's time to change." "Watching a movie a couple of weeks ago. An American movie. I can't remember
the name, but it wasn't even a sad movie. It caught me off guard. I was on an
airplane." "What does that say about men's tennis these days? They're two pretty cute
girls. I don't blame him." "Federer's winning so much that he likes the situation the way it is." "We Scots have a fierce pride in the things we do that others can never
appreciate. I am the British No. 1, but I would prefer to be the British No. 1
from Scotland every time." "(Marat) Safin for instance, is not afraid to say and do a lot of things and
has the game to back it up. The problem is, you don't cut him loose and allow
him to do it. That's the kind of interest that's going to draw me to watch more
tennis and to be apart of it on more of an everyday level to see someone like
that show his passion, his interest, his love for the game and his pride in
himself to be that good, and if not, better. But everyone is under the thumb
now, it seems. They want to play the same. Forget the production line. Cut guys
loose a little bit and let them be themselves." "It comes from playing like s**t. Why would I feel confident right now? If
that was the case, I don't think we'd be sitting here having this funeral-like
press conference. It's just weird because, I used to like hit for a half hour
and then go eat Cheetos the rest of the day, come out and drill forehands. Now
I'm really trying to make it happen, being professional, really going for it,
and I miss my Cheetos." "I'm going with the flow. I feel when the time is right to stop, it will be
flashing in neon lights for me, like this is it. It could be this year, it could
be next year, I have no idea. Anyone in their profession seems to think it's
fairly clear when it's the right time. I haven't had that moment of clarity." "If you get operated, something can go wrong and you can just say bye-bye to
tennis. That's what happened to a lot of soccer players in Europe. They get
operated, some things, it's not the mistake of the doctor. It's just some
surgeries, they just don't go the right way...My injury will never go away. It's
already become so chronic there's no chance to fix it so I can play without
pain." "For a couple of months, though I wasn't partying all the time I was going
out, having a glass or two of wine, knowing my Mum wasn't going to be cracking
the whip the next morning. I skied in St. Moritz, I show-jumped, but then the
challenges disappeared. I knew I was never going to be the best at anything else
-- not the best commentator, not the best rider. I think I can still be one of
the best tennis players; that is what has brought me back. And I have studied
this sport for 20 years, so I think I know what I'm talking about." "I just don't believe I can win on clay, and if it suits me to maybe jump
into one tournament just so I stay familiar with the game, then I might make a
call like that." "I'm at the top of my game so, when I win or lose, I don't freak out...I
don't think we can call it a rivalry yet. There's just to many great players
around." "When I saw that, I couldn't believe it. I would love for Wimbledon to (buy
them). I don't care who buys them, whether it's $500,000, $5 million or $50
million, that's got Borg's name on that trophy. What are you going to do with
that trophy? Use it as an ashtray? All the blood and everything that went into
winning that, no one is going to have the satisfaction of winning that from just
owning them. It's impossible." "I'm done growing. I only grow when I put my high heels on now." "What's so sad, to me, about Serena is she is still so young and still has so
much ability. If Serena wants to come back in a proper way and really prepare, I
believe she could still become No. 1 again. It's getting to the point where it's
either get fit and get ready to really make a proper comeback or don't dally in
it. I think she might be taking a little time away now to think about that and
decide where she wants to go." "If you go to Australia, the Australian Open is on all day long on network
TV. There's no way CBS, NBC and ABC would do that. They only show the finals.
That's always been the case. They don't want to give the time to the biggest
tournament we have in the United States. Any other country, it's everywhere --
front page of the main paper, front page of the sports section. We haven't had
that here." "No! I don't have a chance. For me he's unbelievable. I will continue with my
comeback and I am just happy with that." "This could become one of the favorite stops for the players after just one
year. They understood how much effort we made to make them feel welcome." "I think he shouldn't play tennis because it's so boring to play against him.
He has a good serve, but his problem is on the baseline." "He moves great, does everything very well. He's gotten to a point that when
he's not at his best, he's finding ways to win, and that separates him from the
rest," Sampras said, a moment before making sure to bolster his own credentials
a tad. "There are less great players today than there was when I was playing." "Plus wasn't she the first player to lose 0-and-0 in the final of a Grand
Slam? That has to count for something." "Davis Cup was as special (as winning Wimbledon) because you play as a team
and for your country you have very little opportunity to do that as tennis is
such an individual sport. I remember coming in to the locker room after winning
Wimbledon and I really had no one who knew how I felt. It was a very strange
feeling." "I think if he keeps doing well, he might come back to win a few more titles.
Steal that Todd Woodbridge record back." "It's in Caesar's. It's unbelievable. They say on a good night it makes like
500 grand...There's a line outside that wraps around the place...He hooked us up
with a sweet table in the middle and he got bodyguards for us...Not that we
needed it...He's the man there. James [Blake] went to Vegas for a bachelor party
and Andre hooked him up with rooms at Hard Rock." "It doesn't suit Australian tennis players. It's disappointing to have no
impact at all. They always say it's going to be done and nothing happens." "When my family left me back in '93, Richard Williams [father of Venus and
Serena] came to my apartment and put a thousand dollars on the table and said,
'That's yours every month as long as you need it.' But I couldn't take it." "Andy's an emotional and intense guy. I like how intense he gets, but maybe
it's my fault for not helping him strike a better balance. Sometimes his stomach
gets upset. Some great athletes throw up before every match. Fortunately, he
doesn't do that." "That super tiebreaker takes all the excitement out of the match. I guess
it's good for TV because it's over faster, but for the fans it sucks." "I've been talking to Martina [Hingis] about playing for a couple of years.
Maybe I can convince her to play some doubles." "This has been a long time coming. The problems with doubles have not just
come around in this generation. I realized where doubles was in 1985, when
Martina [Navratilova] and I were coming to the end of our 109-match winning
streak. Imagine a 109-match winning streak in any sport. But it got teeny, teeny
attention. Martina is one of the greats of all time and I was a Top 10 singles
player and had a name, but where did it get us? Basically, there was hardly
mention of our long winning streak." "Well I got to No. 1. That's my answer to that." "I really want to win a race this year. If I don't, then all the guys will
start calling me Tim Henman." "He's now gone from being a really great talent or whatever to, in my mind,
not a great player anymore. Now it's becoming ordinary, totally ordinary...When
he's not in control of the point, he tries to hit a two-hander. He's got the
whole strategy turned around." "Maybe I was a bit scared of him. Maybe I didn't really believe it. Things
were happening so fast." "A strong body listens. It obeys. A weak body commands. If you're body is
weak it tells you what to do. If you're body is strong it'll actually listen to
you when you tell it to do something. If you build it right you can overcome
some of the obstacles of age and recovery." "But Henin-Hardenne, the champ here in 2004, holder of four major titles and
destined for the Hall of Fame, walked. She walked away with $458,500, which
ought to buy a lot of upset-stomach relief, leaving a bad taste and a blot on
the game. In a word she was unprofessional, especially with 15,452 in the stands
and a worldwide TV audience eavesdropping." "How a Cypriot got to be ranked among the world's best defies logic on an
island where we eat ourselves fitter." "I know you are reporters and I know this is your job, but, you know, take
your note pads, take your pencils down, take your grunt-o-meters down, the
fashion police, put everything away and just watch the match, you know, from
just the fans' perspective. I seriously think that the quality of the match
today was great." "She's just an unbelievable player. She hasn't got a huge serve, she hasn't
got big groundies, but she's got everything mentally and just anticipates really
well. She just knows what's going on out there. She can hit lob winners on the
line and reflex volleys back when she needs to. She's just an awesome player.
Now playing her, I know why she's won all these Grand Slams and why she's
probably going to go down as one of the greats ever." "If you ask Jim Courier, I mean, that guy has his tongue up (Roger Federer's)
ass, I think...you know, the whole time when you actually listen to him
commentating or listen to him talk about Roger Federer. Sometimes makes me sick
almost." "There was kind of a code that you had as an Australian that you never left
the court losing unless you had blood all over you. That's the sort of toughness
you need to compete on the world stage and I feel that our kids today just don't
have it." "Once those players are out of their comfort zone, they've got to come up
with something different and if it's not quite their game, then you've already
won a small victory before the ball has been hit." "He has a middle seat reserved on the express train to hell." "Not on my end." "If someone had done that to me when I was 18, I honestly think a lot of
things would have been different. The message I got early on was that I could
get away with just about anything on the court. No one wanted me defaulted. The
tournament director didn't want me defaulted, neither did the TV people. But if
someone had nailed me, cost me a big tournament, the chances are I would have
learned my lesson and not done it again. I mean, I'm not stupid. Tell me where
the line is and I won't cross it. The message I got until Australia was that
there was no line." "I'll keep training, I'm only 16. I'll be back, and my return will be
thunderous." "With all the injury problems we have in men's tennis at the moment, I'm
happy to still be standing." "I would like to see it. We're the only sport out there without a players'
rep and we have no one going to business meetings for us and a lot of that
doesn't make sense to me but, like I said, I could be talking out of complete
ignorance here if I kind of go into that any further." "I'm not allowed to make a joke. It is a bit unfair how I'm treated. I
thought it was a joke. I got calls and messages. I would rather not to have to
worry about things like that. It is disappointing." "If I play, it will be for one reason: my fans." "Somebody who has tested positive twice in less than two years is someone who
clearly doesn't think the rules apply to him." "I was very happy when I heard she was coming back. I was hoping that one day
she would take the courage to do it, and she did it, and she even won her first
match which was fantastic. I think it's great for the sport and think it will do
her well too, to come back and see how good she can be again because she's a
great competitor and she broke all the records. I think she could do something
great again." "It is about choosing where you play carefully. We are lucky to have so many
tournaments." "We're all part of this big family, this tennis family. When we need each
other's help for our various fund-raising purposes we can count on each other
and it is a pleasure to play. I've played at Pam's [Shriver] event and this will
be my second time doing so, and she has been such a great champion for tennis
and for her charities over the years. It's a real easy yes. Everyone who is
playing is very philanthropic; it sort of fits with our way of life to help each
other." "I'm proud of myself. I'm a relieved, happy girl." "I guess it will be fun to look at them while you're playing. It might be
nice." "You have to put him as the best player in the world. Level wise, it is very
difficult to say if it is Pete Sampras or Rod Laver. They won a lot of majors.
Or Bjorn Borg, for that matter. But if you talk about the level that Pete
Sampras played at, I would have to say that, when he played well there was no
way Roger Federer would have beaten him. Not yet!" "We have technology of cameras at every single angle. Let's take the human
element out. Umpires get nervous just like we do. So, if it's there, why not use
it? Plus it would be fun. Can you imagine if you had a flag in your bag that you
could throw for an instant replay once or twice a set? It would add a whole
'nother element of excitement to it." "McEnroe respects one guy -- himself, and that's it." "I have a very strong opinion. I'm absolutely against it. I'm against the
challenge system. I'm for the way it is right now. Don't change that." "The atmosphere was very much Russian." "You tennis people have to admit that the fish and not the angler has to
enjoy the bait. Daily newspapers only cover controversy, not the game of
doubles. It really hurt my heart to see at a Grand Slam doubles event when 90
percent of the people did not stay for the men's doubles finals [this year's
match at Roland Garros where the No. 3 seed team of Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi
defeated the No. 2 seed Bryan brothers] after the women's semifinals and half of
the people in stands at Roland Garros left after first set. The doubles issue
has been on the table nine years and it has not been fixed in a way that
enhances situation of doubles at all. It came to a point where we had to make a
decision where we had to enhance the product of doubles." "If Britain lose this tie, then they took a horrible decision." "There's an edge because [Courier] gets teed off if I start beating him and I
do, too. That's the tough part. The easy part is when I team up with Anna
Kournikova. Jim's single so he's probably jealous." "I let the evening unfold. I'm the sort of guy who likes to sit in the chair
and look at the wine glass." "Well, [Peter] Lundgren proved me wrong but I'm not bitter. I'm very happy
for both Marat [Safin] and Peter." "I had a nice dinner. I let the evening unfold, flow. I like to sit in a
chair with a wine glass. When I woke up, I thought, 'Why didn't I go to bed at
11?' I came back at 3 and went to bed at 5." "We'd love to be a team like John McEnroe and Peter Fleming, continue for
numerous and numerous Grand Slams. I think we can. Just got to stay healthy and
stay young." "It's been really disappointing. Billie Jean King came up to the booth the
other day and I don't want to say she was embarrassed because -- I don't want to
put words in her mouth -- but this is not what she envisioned I think.
Obviously, she has no control of it and, in some cases, it could just be bad
luck; it just doesn't seem like it picked up any steam. In the men's, it seems
like a lot of close matches and good story lines. I do cover both men's and
women's, although I do have a bias towards men's tennis because I played on the
men's tour for 15 years, but really there's much more excitement. Hopefully the
quarterfinals on that we'll see some great tennis." "No, I wouldn't wear it. I wouldn't wear it. But it made it a lot easier for
me to beat him today." "I know James has had some difficult moments, and so I'm happy for him. I
like to see people do well who have suffered and been through hard things." "He's a little weird. He can play great or he can play horrible. He's
spoiled. I think he'll grow as a person, but right now, he's a kid and he's
acting as a kid." "Like Ahh-nold? (Schwarzenegger) I don't think so. I'm more into, in general,
helping people. Like Muhammad Ali does for the world. Think about the world not
only like 'God Bless America' sort of thing but God bless the world, because
we're all together. We're living on the same world, you know? And not alone.
Sometimes people forget. This is why we have fights all over the world. Of
course you can't stop them, but still pick an issue, maybe in the future. Of
course it goes into politics a little bit. Maybe. Who knows what I'll do? But I
don't really see this sort of role. I'd like to be more of an ambassador." "I think I actually made a very kind gesture out of nowhere; I decided in the
middle of that match that for every ace I hit I want to donate money. I just
think people should honestly look at themselves before they judge another
person. I've never been spoiled. I want a Range Rover very bad, but I refuse to
spend the money to buy a Range...The diamonds are borrowed. I won't buy them
because I'm too cheap." "I get more tense and more tense. Then I was scared. I didn't try so much
anymore to go for the points, but I stayed more back behind the baseline to put
the balls in the court, and then he hit winners. In the beginning I didn't know
what to do. I was feeling like I was serving bad because he returned every ball.
Then I tried to hit faster and harder, and so that's how you get more tense." "I donate lots to charity. I don't necessarily tell everybody the number or
what I do." "It's a lot of bling to play with. You got to have the bling." "I went to buy shirts the other day and lots of people were saying, 'Oh, this
is the girl, she won last year.' Sometimes they go, 'What's your name?' I'm
like, 'Uh...' and I find it difficult to say anything. I say 'Kuznetsova' and
they say 'What?' So I just say, 'Okay, whatever. Just forget it.'" "Appropriate ban. No more I could say. It's a pity people have to do this." "I was curious to see how people will see me this year because I haven't
really been back in New York since obviously the US Open. I feel there is a
buzz." "I have a great record against anybody right now, so it doesn't really matter
who I play in the final. I'll be in there as the big favorite. But I play my
best in the finals, in the important matches. That's why I'm number one. There's
no secret...I'm not overconfident, but very confident." "I pulled out, I think, three times during a tournament and about three times
before a tournament in my whole career...Now, it's four, five, six tournaments a
year these top players are pulling out, or more. That's a shame." "If you're a guy, you're interested in a couple of things: sports and hot
girls. Tennis is the only sport that tends to bring those two together." "Some singles players aren't very good in doubles and others simply don't
enjoy doubles. A couple of top singles players have told me that literally
standing at the net while their partner is serving is the scariest thing in the
world." "As good as anybody not named Roger." "Thinking about my accessibility to fans, the amount of autographs that I
didn't sign versus the ones I did, I look back a little mortified at my
behavior. I was so exclusively focused on playing well that I put all the
responsibilities of being a top-ranked professional on the side, believing that
was not my job. That was sincere naivete. I have a much broader perspective now.
I understand that the players drive the popularity of the game. The thing that I
am most upset about is that we had arguably the best generation of American
players in history, but at the same time, the popularity of the game declined in
America. There are lots of people in power just as culpable as I am and my
peers, but we had a real opportunity to keep tennis on the front pages and it
slipped away. Part of that has got to be my fault." "Roger Federer has a physical and mental advantage over everybody. He's doing
to tennis what Tiger Woods did to golf a few years ago. He is making us all
improve." "I mean it is frustrating coming so close in the big ones. Sometimes I feel
like I would rather lose in the semifinals than the finals. You spend the night
before dreaming about winning it, and then having to watch another team
celebrate kind of stinks. But I think it also keeps us gunning and training for
more. We aren't satisfied. We still want another title bad." "If there's a heaven, this guy is going there. His commitment to kids is
beyond compare." "I will try. I don't have a lot of time, traveling every week. I have one
month in Mallorca in December after finishing the Tennis Masters Cup and then I
want to do that." "There's so many other chapters that we can explore." "Andy's got a great attitude and is already a bit of an icon within his
generation, but he may never do better than Chang. He's more charismatic, but
results-wise, he's no better than Michael was at this point. Really, if he were
playing during Sampras' and Agassi's primes, Andy might be like Michael, playing
a little bit in their shadows." "Lleyton cheers for other people's mistakes and is very aggressive. It is
very difficult not to feel provoked. But as a person, I would rather not win a
single tournament than be like Lleyton." "In sports, it's always that there's winners and losers, and it's impossible
to always be the winner. At least, it's not just me losing this time, it's the
whole team, and I can take some comfort in that." "The thing that really impresses me is that like the (Rod) Lavers and (Ken)
Rosewalls, he really cares about this game. Being No 1, he feels he has a duty
to do as much for the game as possible, and, to me, that is very important." "Yes, we are friend. Is difficult because we don't speak English very good.
It's difficult for us. Yeah, (we communicate) in English. Not a lot because we
speak so bad." "I believe ‑‑ I live in a black and white. I think things are like either
black or white. I don't really believe that much in the gray. I think that
there's gray for a lot of people, but I don't live in the gray. I realize
whatever action I have or take, it's going to have a consequence -- either good
or bad. So I live my life in a way where I don't have bad consequences. I just
notice there's a lot people around me just live in the gray. I don't know, for
me, I'm just really straightforward." "I don't know if you guys have seen my body, there's no anabolicness speed
there. This is as natural as it gets. You know, this is ‑‑ you know ‑‑ this is
part Jewish, part Christian, part upper‑class upbringing working as hard as you
can genetics. There's no anabolicness going on here." "Drop me on the west coast of Ireland and I'll be happy. Golf, Guinness and
great people, perfect." "She's as mean as a snake. She reminds me of me." "McDonald's. We have been there every night and we'll be there tonight." "Returning his serve, it's like trying to return a serve that comes from the
Eiffel Tower. It comes fast and bounces very high. It's probably the biggest
serve on the tour." "I know I can beat him on any surface." "(Maria) Sharapova plays thoughtless tennis, just pounding at the ball." "Last time I came here I went to see the (Red Hot) Chilli Peppers in concert
and this time I will be going to see U2. I don't think about tennis 24/7. I
enjoy time on the lake at my Florida home and just being lazy on the sofa." "Simple version for me is, umm, started bad and finished bad basically..." "We've worked pretty hard on this shot because everybody knows my backhand is
beautiful, it's natural, but it doesn't give me a lot of points." "I'm not envious of anyone." "Well, you gotta find his backhand, huh?" "I just want to say, my mom was sick...she has a problem with her
health...really serious problem, so I have been dealing with this for the past
couple of months. I would like (the media) to not...ask any questions about this
any more. It has been a pretty hard time...but I am a professional tennis player
so I have to play no matter what. So I am here. I'm trying to do my best..." "Let's be truthful, this isn't a team, because there's someone who makes
decisions choosing the best for himself. I can understand that a player gets
tired and decides to rest before Paris. I also did so on Tuesday against the
Czechs but not in the most important match of all. Coria and I were the best
team and if we were a real team this wouldn't have happened." "I think you have to love yourself before you fall in love. I'm still
learning to love myself." "If anything, for the first time in my career I've been getting tight a
couple of times because I'm more committed. It's not so free and easy and I like
the way that feels." "Everybody knows the French have a problem with winning." "I feel good about beating (Ivan) Ljubicic, of course, but I would have
traded it for the loss to him in Davis Cup two months ago. That hurt a lot to me
and the team." "I don't know if I'm going to be anywhere next year really. Every week I feel
like I'm not sure for the next year." "I wanted to get a rematch from the Olympics. That always plays a role in
such matches. You don't just forget what happened in the previous matches
against any player. And with him I have kind of a tough past -- he ruined my
Olympic dreams in Athens (laughing), so it's nice." "It's nice to be one of the most beautiful people." "I'm an outside chance at Roland Garros but my focus is really on Wimbledon
where it is realistically between me and Roger Federer to win." "Pushing off is a lot tougher and I prefer to have the firm ground when as
soon as I slide I can push back off. That's one of the advantages I have, that
I'm strong enough to do that on the hardcourt. On the claycourt, it's tougher.
You push off but keep sliding." "I know for a fact that if my kids keep going, they'll be the No. 1 players
in the world one day. My daughter's gonna kill these bitches. She's gonna be on
the tour by 11. I guarantee it. Mr. Williams ain't the only crazy motherf*****
out here." "You come here and all you hear is Nadal, Nadal, Nadal. It is wrong for
somebody so young. The country has great players. Moya, Ferrero, Albert Costa
have all won the French Open but nobody talks about them. Only Nadal. Why is
this?" "As our contract came to a close, and after carefully considering what is in
the best interest of our business, Reebok has elected not to continue this
partnership." "I don't think she came out there and beat me. I just kept making error after
error...I just think I'm having a mental letdown from all the tennis I've been
playing in the last four weeks, and I just felt pretty dead." "Not at all. I mean, that wasn't even a big match. The serve-and-volley was
nothing today. It's just my mistakes and, well, she served pretty well. That's
the only one thing she can do." "Meanwhile, though, let's get to the "bottom" of something else -- Serena
Williams' heft. Granted, the poor girl has plenty of other problems to worry
about -- she pulled out of Amelia Island with a sprained ankle last week,
launching another round of speculation about her dedication and fighting spirit.
No matter how you cut it, fitness is an issue for Serena..." "Just look at Andy Roddick. He has the biggest serve on the men's tour and
he's not the No. 1 because other parts of his game are not so good. I think it's
more important to have the desire and the other parts of your game." "(Rafael) Nadal will most likely grind his way into the Top 10, but he
doesn't have the firepower to be No. 1. Too many players hit a bigger ball..." "They wanted me to change, but I am too old to change the way I play." "I was just telling myself, 'Wow, V, I really, you know, made it so hard on
myself out there. Not only did I have to play my opponent, but I also had to
play against me.' That's hard to do the whole match. You know, I have to be
kinder to myself, basically." "Well, as far as my game, I think, you know, I had some of my best results
when I was actually my heaviest and arguably my slowest weight. For my game, for
me to be successful, the bottom line is I have to be serving well, hitting the
spots on my serves, and volleying very firm. That's just the bottom line. If I'm
holding serve, I'm going to eke out a break here and there. But having said
that, you can't argue that me getting faster doesn't make the game easier; I
mean, it's going to make the game easier." "To tell you the truth, I could care less (laughing). There are other things
that I'm more worried about than that." "You know what, I'm ignorant to the whole West Bank settlement of Israel. I'm
American. Can you elaborate on that, please?" "The French hasn't worked out for me the last couple of years and I'll make
sure that doesn't happen again." "He needs the right players to lose, he needs to be scheduled at the right
time, he needs to shut out the voices he doesn't need to hear. I had the
single-minded focus that he is still trying to find." "She has a very quiet way of communicating. She says a lot without saying
much at all. They wrote a song about that, didn't they?" "Ten minutes? That's the women. It's not for the men; not for the real game,
mate." "I don't know. Haven't I always been mature?" "It's called Retail Therapy." "I have started to realize that I am really just a world athlete and a world
entertainer -- I am a world-known person, I am a global icon." "What Andre does is great for tennis. All the guys can look up at him and he
can be their role model." "Our distribution, capacity and ability for the standard fan to get The
Tennis Channel is going to go up tremendously in the very near future. These
deals are very large and very sensitive, but that should tell you a lot. And
right now, believe it or not, The Tennis Channel is in some part of 19 of the
Top 20 markets in America. We're in 236 markets. We're in 2,900 communities.
We're carried by 34 different cable and satellite companies." "We have evidence that Mr. Fuehrer knew (Irakli) Labadze was going to lose.
Under such conditions we cannot accept any bet." "I know when I played Davis Cup and Cashy (Pat Cash) was in the team, we all
got a little bit cockier. When he wasn't in the team, we crapped ourselves." "Many say that (Pete) Sampras is the greatest player. But I say with all due
respect to the rest, that he (Roger Federer) is the most complete player in the
world so far." "These rackets they use today, you can go to the moon with them. You can do
anything you want with them. You have so many choices, but the whole body has
more chance of getting injured because every shot is possible from every
position." "Yeah, I couldn't get cell phone service in the stadium this morning." "The balls are terribly unpredictable. They skim the net, you make the
adjustment and they go 18 feet long. Prince should stick to tennis rackets,
that's for sure." "There is something about the size of the balls that is not making me
comfortable. They aren't friendly." "I was never comfortable or competing against or being around John (McEnroe)
or Jimmy (Connors). They were highly unique characters to say the least. I had
to pay my dues. Now I see so many countries succeeding by taking each other in.
It's nice to see our country do that now, our guys supporting each other." "This is maddening, I've never seen anything like this. The players aren't
used to this, they've been complaining a lot." "I just thought he was one of the nicest guys, like just really easygoing and
easy to get along with." "The morning I got the call about the (Tsunami exhibition). I went over to
our tennis academy, where Andy was practicing for the Australian Open. I asked
him if he knew about it. He said, 'Is Mattress Mack putting it on?' When I told
him yes, he said, 'I'm there. I don't care if I make the finals. I'm flying in
that day. Anything he does, I feel a responsibility to be there.' I think that's
a good indication of how Andy Roddick feels." "On balance I thought it was a terrific tournament and I know some Americans
come out here and they say, don't quote me, because they're American tennis
officials, but this is the best of the four. They don't want to upset
Wimbledon." "That was...that was choking. You're right. But of course when you play
against (Roger) Federer, he's No. 1 in the world, he won three grand slams last
year, and he's just full of confidence. It's difficult to do anything regular to
beat him. You have to do something extra to be able to have the chance to beat
him. Set points, I had six of them and I couldn't take one. But I was close." "My coach told me I had to expect, you know, some long rallies and stuff. So,
you know, I was ready for this." "Would it shock you if I told you I was going to play Christian Sampras
before Jaden does?" "You said it, I didn't. I can't think of anything funny to say that would not
get me in trouble. I'm going to leave that one alone." "No, she's not. Two women is too much for me." "Earlier in his career it wasn't like that. He would sort of start out like
he was doing a warm-up lap..." "Couple years ago I was No. 7 and I ended up top. So I kind of like the
position that I'm at right now. It's hot." "I think the experts and me and Tony (Roche), we all know it's not his
mistake if my ranking drops. Eventually it will drop. I can't stay No. 1 for 50
years, you know. We'll see what happens. But I'm not worried that he will be
blamed. I'm not thinking this way." "It's a completely different situation right now because last year it was the
time that nobody expected anything from me anything -- I had nothing to lose,
basically I was starting from zero. And now I'm back in Top 5. And for me it's a
different stage." "Maybe if you're playing in London or America, you don't feel that pressure
quite as much." "Such an attitude to their commercial responsibilities is one reason why
Venus and Serena have earned more than $100 million (£52m) from endorsements in
their relatively short careers. Neither sees any contradiction in putting her
game on the line to further the sales of Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets to
America's ever more sedentary and obese young population. One television ad saw
the sisters compete for a packet of french fries on a variety of playing
surfaces." "I've never dated anybody. It's good to get experience under your belt but
you should never get wild or go crazy. If I can't see myself with this person
for life -- I can't be bothered. I can't waste my time. I have some really good
men friends but I believe in no sex before marriage. No fornicating. Stuff like
that. I really believe in that. I mean, I'm not perfect. It's hard to live by
the Bible standards but I'm really comfortable with me." "Everybody who plays me plays me so hard because they always want to beat
me." "I think I was as mentally tough as I've ever been. I felt like I handled the
situation both on and off the court extremely well. I felt like I needed to." "I was worried a bit at the beginning because I didn't know how the situation
was. Once the ATP wanted to do the tournament, I realised there was no risk at
all. I'm very sorry about what happened. It's not easy to be here knowing so
many people were killed very near from here." "I can definitely beat him, yeah. But it's not going to be easy and I think I
know as well as anyone he's definitely the man to beat at the moment." "I was completely caught off guard. I couldn't see any signs that it was
coming. But I stand by my record with Andy. It was pretty good." "While you lose some viewers, you stand to gain much more when you bump
matches to later in the day, because that's when the level of households using
TV is greater. The rule is to bring the most compelling tennis to the widest
audience. If that means showing Americans on tape delay, we'll do it." "I'm not promising anything. I said 2004 was my last year and I lied so I'm
not saying any more about the future." "I think Andy (Roddick) realizes what Brad (Gilbert) brought, but he also
realizes they had their differences. And when you have thoughts like that, it's
really hard to listen to the technical stuff...I think Andy just felt like he
needed a different voice and maybe a little more low-key guy than Brad. Dean
(Goldfine) has a good mind, the respect of the guys, he's a hard worker and he's
pretty low-key, so that wouldn't surprise me." "Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream. Our Dad used to say that. It's an
adage.'' "We don't like to do it to a hostile crowd. If we feel it here, we'll do it.
But there are no guarantees. We're playing in front of 26,000 fans that hate us.
We don't want to rile them up." "(Maria) Sharapova of course -- but I don't know if you would call her
Russian though." "I look at it as we're the underdogs. I don't know if anybody is expecting a
lot from us." "In reality there was a match. She must not have been in reality." "If I'd known it was going to be this cold, I wouldn't have done it." "I know her the way she is. She has always been like this. And once I lost to
her because she starts crying. I was 4-1 up in the third set. I was playing
unbelievable. And suddenly Vera started crying. And she was talking to herself.
So I stopped. So I lost in a tiebreaker." "I'm an unbelievable designer. I don't know how I know and just do these
things. I just start sketching and then I just know the colors and I always know
the forecast. I know green and purple are going to be hot. I was born to be a
designer. I worked hard to be a tennis player, I don't work hard to be a
designer." “I know a lot of people who are 12 and doing things they shouldn’t be doing.
Whether you’re an actress or a singer, it’s always the sexier ones that are
selling more tickets or selling more albums.” "I don't care what they're selling." "It's something that I really look forward to as well. I have a very young
mom as well and I think that's something that I would like to be as well. I'm
not going to say that I may quit (tennis) completely. Who knows?" "Yes, and I wish everyone else would do the same." "Within a few years the name 'Maria Sharapova' will be a brand as universally
recognized as Calvin Klein, BMW and Rolex." "I've got a new man and I'm head over heels in love. I adore him, he's so
hot. His name is Mark Philippoussis." "It's something different, isn't it. They certainly look good from where I've
been sitting." "I think it is important for our sport to understand its product clearly, and
I'm not quite convinced this is part of our product...It was difficult, to say
the least, to concentrate on the ball. But I suppose I had an advantage. I'm
used to playing with my wife (smiling)." "I'm a couple of years late. I retired at the wrong time. Maybe I should ask
for a wildcard? But I wouldn't be able to play. I would just want to take
(phone) numbers." "I don't think she won the match, it was me who lost it...At the end she was
celebrating as if she just won a Grand Slam. It just shows how desperate she was
for a win." "Neither will you." "She doesn't have any 'Oh my God!' shots, but she is a solid all-round
player." "This is good all this craziness...but maybe there is a little too much
craziness." "Playing (Serena) it always felt like playing a steamroller. No subtlety, no
finesse, just raw, loud power. To respect this style of play was always a bit
tough for me, but of course I had to, because the rules of tennis don't state
that having a beautiful game is required to become No. 1." "I went to Phuket already, but would love to go to Chiang Mai one day." "The week before the (US Open) I gave a few interviews for CNN, USA Network,
New York Times, USA Today and Sports Illustrated which had been arranged
beforehand. The reason for giving these interviews is not only because working
with the media is just part of the job, it is much more my desire to contribute
to the promotion of tennis in the U.S." "I'm excited because I haven't won a title since March and that's not like
me." "Maybe it's just a coincidence that I break the record in every Davis Cup." "The first thing John (McEnroe) said to me was, 'Get the cold beer, rookie.
That's your job.' We had just beaten Czechoslovakia, and McEnroe came into the
locker room and told me to get the beer." "She's a mediocre player who never will be in the Top 20. We have people
offering players like this to us every month." "I still can't believe that I won, you know. When you're on the court and you
hear 'US Open champion' you say, 'Wow, who is that? I don't see any champion.'
It's just great. It's amazing." "(Roger) Federer, I feel, is probably more back to our era, the style of
play. I think he's so good all-around, and he's got all the strokes. I mean, he
can be aggressive if he wants to. He can chip. He can topspin. He can do
anything." "I want success. I want to do something. I really want people to remember my
name." "The nicer the point, the more -- the better I feel, the more excited I get.
But I never play that my opponent looks stupid. I think that is wrong. I have
too much respect for every opponent I play." "I'd like to think that the Masters Cup in Houston, which has been a big goal
of mine, is now even more likely." "He's already made a few comments to me in the locker room. He's not gonna
get me a Christmas present. He reckons that was mine today, so..." "(Andy) Roddick needs to work on his return game. He has turtle-like reflexes
out there, not cat-like. Put a ball machine on a ladder and practice returning
140 mph serves until your hands bleed!" "More than anything I'm just disappointed for them. It's just about getting
over the hump in the Slams, you know? I had trouble early on too...I think it's
just a matter of breaking through, and hopefully it will happen for them sooner
rather than later." "You know, it's pretty one-dimensional now. Everyone's pretty much solid off
the ground, so much power off the ground. Maybe you had more different styles of
play (in the past)." "I'm a fan, Pat Mac (Patrick McEnroe) turned me on to your site what seems
like a year or two ago, I check it out at night when I get home." "I like the site, I read it a lot." "Usually, when I get tired, I usually get tired and I keep getting tired. I
mean, I don't really know. After he came back from the bathroom break, you know,
I mean, it just all of a sudden he's -- you know, he's fresh again. I'm not
quite sure how that happens." "Unbelievable, yet, what else could it be?" I'm just walking along minding my business, and I look up and there's Andy
Roddick just walking right by me. I was like 'Ohhhhhhh...my gawwwd! It's Andy
Roddick!' You always figure guys like that would be surrounded by these huge
entourages, but there he was just walking all by himself, baseball cap on
backward, wearing flip flops and shorts." "My real goal is the Olympics. It's going to be tough but it was very good
preparation to play here." "Unfortunately, no!" "The Olympics is not for tennis and tennis does not need the Olympics. It is
not my goal in life to win a gold medal." "This is the Olympics. He's 21 years old. He's strong as a bull. It's the
American way. Go step up." "For me, I'm in the driver's seat; I'm No. 1 in the world. I've won the last
couple of meetings, and I've won the big tournaments lately. Whoever comes, I'll
try to beat him. But it's almost up to me to decide who's my rival, isn't it?"
"Reading the newspapers, there's nothing I'm going to learn new about myself,
because I know what I said, and you know, I don't need to read what I said,
'cause I know what I said. I like to look at the pictures." "She's an amazing talent. As much as she is hot, she's a good-girl-next-door
hot." "He was OK, but I've played better. If I played better, I could have won." "Right now I want to look forward and I want to see the US Open Series
succeed." "I'll give you the dramatic version, as I am an actress. I stretched and I
dove for the ball. Well, I didn't quite dive. I was extremely stoked, but
unfortunately during that point, I hurt my knee." "I'm not fighting with myself. Oh, my God. That's how I am. You know, the
story of the hippo? The hippo comes to the monkey and said, listen, I'm not a
hippo. So, he paint himself like a zebra. He said but he's still a hippo. He
said but look at you, you're painted like a zebra but you are a hippo. So then
he goes, you know, like I want be a little parrot. So, he put the colours on him
and he comes to the monkey and said but, sorry, you are a hippo. So, in the end,
you know, he comes and said I'm happy to be a hippo. This is who I am. So, I
have to be who I am and he's happy being a hippo." "The good news is that the ATP were willing to let someone independent look
at how they handled the cases. The bad news is that the independent person found
they had completely mis-handled the whole thing." "People seem to forget that Anna (Kournikova) isn't in the picture anymore.
It's Maria-time now." "If you saw me with my clothes off you'd see that my body is in great shape
and ready to take on the world." "She's not real any more. She doesn't really like tennis. You can tell. She's
not playing from the heart. It's all contrived. She just wants to look good." "Honestly, I could get in a car accident today and never play tennis again,
and then I wouldn't have anything to fall back on. But fortunately enough, I
do." "No, I don't read the papers. I just look at the pictures." "Rod-dick...I had years of psychological issues with that." "Baah?" "I'm an actress, model and athlete, and I'd put athlete third on the list." "I cannot compare myself to her. She is another level. She is from another
planet. She is one of the few women tennis players I respect... She's my hero." "Andy Roddick, he's gotten a lot of help from Brad Gilbert, but at the same
time, I'm not sure he's doing anything for him anymore. What he taught Roddick
didn't take too long -- it's just that somebody told him...I'm not sure he's
developing his game anymore. I think he's just keeping him interested in
fighting and winning tennis matches." "Perhaps it was (John) McEnroe's idea to build the new ATP men's tennis
marketing campaign around Pat Benetar's 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot,' a song so
dated it might have been on McEnroe's eight-track when he was a teenager." "I'm sick of running around, waking up at 7am and going to the gym. I've been
on tour now for 10 years. I have the best four years of my career left, but I
want to do something after that and I want my new career to be even bigger." "My goal in a couple of years is to try to build a successful fashion house
like Armani or Versace. I want that more than anything." "He's up there. But (Marat) Safin, on his game, is as hard to beat. And Andy
Roddick has that huge serve. A lot of guys can beat you if you're slightly off
your game." "...ESPN, if you wouldn't show the count in a baseball game on the screen
with the number of balls last half the time, why would you show the score in a
tennis game with the server's score last half the time? Is there anyone at all
who has ever played tennis involved in the production decisions at ESPN?" "Maybe I'm the 'Scud' now...maybe they should start calling me it." "The problem is not the claycourt. The problem is, you know, rather something
to do with the conditions on center court. Because I've played well on Suzanne
Lenglen, on the other courts. But the Chatrier court is really, really big, and
I just haven't had enough play on it. Maybe I come here next year and play a
week on this court, if I can, if the French Federation lets me. We'll see. I've
been playing well in other tournaments, in Davis Cup on clay. So for me it's not
the surface, it's rather maybe the court." "I felt it was a great point for me. I felt like pulling my pants down.
What's bad about it?...They tried to destroy the match. All of the people who
run the sport, they have no clue. It's a pity that the tennis is really going
down the drain. Every year it's getting worse and worse and worse. There has to
be a radical change, and I hope it will be really soon." "I think I earned it. If she wins two French Opens and tries to get a wild
card at the age of 47, she'll probably get it, too. I didn't get a wildcard when
I was 16. I earned my way." "I'd say there's about a 40 percent chance I'll play." "I talked with Tom Hanks. I saw that movie 'Turner and Hooch' at least 50
times. It took all my guts to go up to him. I went up to him, I was like, 'Can I
have a picture?' We talked acting; he wanted to know what I was doing. We talked
a little tennis. I mean, he knew all about myself and my sister." "Tennis whites are boring, unless it's Wimbledon, where it's classy." "I met Greg when I was 15. I was a ball girl at Queen's and there he was,
grinning at me." "Anything which draws attention to me because I am so attractive." "I think people are looking at this as too dramatic. It's not a disaster,
because I knew how tough the claycourt season is for me." "Jim Courier did a great job of showing the rest what is possible. He could
only hit forehands, but almost every one could have been a winner. But Jim
struggled when others learned to hit the ball just as hard. Many look at Andy
(Roddick) as being a similar animal, and it could well be in a few years
everybody hits the ball as hard as him." "I can't say that I've had heroes, but who I really admired for their talent
and the way they played was Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe." "I didn't even have fun to break anything today. That's how I felt, you know.
Today's such a day when, you know...Even if somebody told me, 'Break,' I
wouldn't break. You just...But I don't know. With me, anything is possible. When
I come on the court, you know, anything happens. So they always expect
something, something is gonna happen. But today, nothing happen. Today was show
but no actors in the show, you know. Disappointing." "Hey -- you guys with the ladder. If you come here I'll buy you pizza." "I think I said I would put on a skirt if I dropped serve again." When I was a kid, it was challenging to find out when and where you could
find tennis on TV." It is the tennis fan who will likely benefit the most through greater
exposure on television for tennis." "The US Open Series is a revolutionary breakthrough for tennis." "When you make the schedule, you're not planning on playing deep into every
single week, or at least I haven't in the past. I'm not physically or mentally
ready to pick up my bags and go to Monte Carlo. I definitely have to look at
what's best for my chances at (at the French Open)." "I can tell you that based on our experience, they are reporting speeds they
don't measure. What they're doing is tracking the ball as it moves through the
air and extrapolating back to a theoretical launch point." "Honestly, I'm not excited at all right now. I'm having some issues off the
court, just growing up, and I'm just taking it day by day. I'm trying to get
back into it right now." "The Argentines are known for using dirty tactics in their Davis Cup matches.
Every time you play there they pour water on their claycourt day and night to
make it very slow. So we'll pay them back this time: they prefer slow courts, so
we'll try to make the court as fast as possible. If we could make it like an ice
rink, I would be very happy indeed. They had better bring their ice skates with
them." "OK, it's official. Every gay tennis fan has roasted me this week. This has
nothing to do with good-looking guys; it has to do with hideous-looking apparel.
I'm comfortable enough with my sexuality to say (Carlos) Moya would look good
wearing a rhinestone muumuu with parachute pants. That doesn't mean the outfit
looks good. Those flame-retardant shirts are precisely the kind of fashion faux
pas we'll all laugh at 10 years hence. Also, so we're clear: a) Just because I
think those shirts are the height of tacky doesn't mean I'm calling for a ban.
Players can wear whatever they want -- even sausage-casing tight hot pants with
matching headbands on which their first name is embroidered..." "Yeah, I have become aware of it. It's important for me as a young lady and a
young individual to carry myself with aplomb and to walk with all kinds of
confidence in this world around me. Because a lot of kids are feeding off of
that. A lot of people look up to myself and my sister; and a lot of entertainers
in our age group, a lot of kids are looking up to us. For me, I'm okay with
that. I just feel that I should carry myself in a manner that they'd be able to
copy themselves after." "(Those) who say that Serena isn't serious about tennis; she wants to go
Hollywood. That's true, about Hollywood. I would love to get a lot of acting
gigs. But you wouldn't believe the stuff I've turned down because of my
tournament schedule...I would do well beside (comedian) Chris Tucker." "If you saw me with my clothes off you'd see that my body is in great shape
and ready to take on the world...I could snap my fingers and have any man I
wanted but I have too much respect for myself for that...People can look then
wonder about the taste and the sensuous delights of the dish, but when it comes
down to it they simply can't afford such an expensive luxury." "(It's) a corset design making me look very, very slim and trim. I call it a
corset dress. Very Hollywood glamour with the silk." "He [Vince Spadea] was about as down and out as you could see from a Top 20
player. Then to claw his way back through the minor leagues and do it the hard
way where he wasn't young, wasn't getting wildcards, wasn't getting any help. I
guess he decided he was just going to do it." "Walk into a General Nutrition Center, or any place that sells supplements,
and pick something randomly off the shelf. You have close to a 20 percent chance
of there being something there that we, as players, aren't allowed to take. Much
of it, rightfully so. But in any of those products, you might have contamination
willfully, meaning the manufacturer actually puts additional stuff in there that
isn't listed on the label." "I never faced Pete (Sampras) in a match. I think from watching, his is the
best serve ever. And he is the only guy that I would probably not take the bet
that he would so often offer in practice -- he's down love-40, says "10 bucks, I
still hold serve." I probably wouldn't even take that against him. So many times
he would come back and win. He would just put it on the dime. I also wouldn't
take the bets when we were just practicing our serves, he put just a tennis ball
can on the other side, and says, "A hundred bucks for who hits more." That's not
a safe bet with him." "I've been getting my reel together. I think they are looking at me more as
an actress because I have a lot of potential and a lot of skills." "Andy Roddick was the featured performer at night (at Indian Wells). Cost
another $71 for those who had spent $134 earlier. Cheaper tickets for the two
sessions were available for $54. Free would still be a little expensive for my
taste." "There are those at the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the overall
governing body, who remain furious with the ATP for seemingly making a mockery
of a drug-testing procedure that had been methodically constructed over the past
decade." "I agree, she has a good backhand, but that's it. Not a good serve. She plays
well, obviously. From my opinion, it's nothing special." "She's a female Marat Safin. She has great potential. Give her two or three
more years. She has the best potential in women's tennis since Martina
Navratilova." "The fact is that the ATP have got plenty of thinking to do about this
judgement and I am sure the story will develop over the next few days and
weeks." "As was the situation with the seven previous low-level nandrolone doping
cases last summer, it is our responsibility to process each and every doping
case. The (Greg) Rusedski tribunal concluded that he should have received
personal notification of the risk of taking an electrolyte supplement previously
distributed by ATP trainers, and that the ATP notices posted in the player
newsletters, player intranet website and locker rooms were not adequate. We
respect the authority and independence of the tribunal and are satisfied that
the process was conducted fairly." "It's very important to have her with me as she gives me great support. When
she needs to study she stays in Argentina and if not, she will travel with me."
"I'd like just one time to see you guys step up and do something for us." "I'd like to get married and have children sometime, but sometimes I feel I'm
a child myself so it's a little early yet." "The women's Top 100 increasingly resembles football's Premiership. Venus and Serena are Arsenal and Manchester United, winning virtually anything they put their minds to, while Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne are Chelse |
